If anyone thinks that merging two historic franchises together is an easy task, guess again! In an interview with Nintendo Life, Koei Tecmo producer Yosuke Hayashi talked about some of the challenges in combining the two franchises, as what makes a Zelda game is a myriad of various experiences that culminate into one incredible adventure. When approached about developing the title, Eiji Aonuma said “When Mr. Hayashi approached me for this collaboration, he said, “let’s rethink our preconceived ideas of what we can do with a Zelda game.”” This was no easy task, with some things being kept in the title and other aspects being left out. To keep with tradition, the Treasure Chest scenes were kept in, as were other animations and sound effects that veterans of the series will recognize.

“let’s rethink our preconceived ideas of what we can do with a Zelda game”

Aonuma also said in the interview that “At first, when Hayashi-san approached me, he wanted to make this title closer to a Zelda game than a Dynasty Warriors game — that extended to having boss battles in the dungeons and [having] certain characters in the game.” Miyamoto insisted that this game should have more of a Dynasty Warriors feel to it, so while there are some traditional Zelda aspects such as boss battles (which were shown at the E3 demo), the game strikes a delicate balance between Zelda and Dynasty Warriors. There is also a feature where the player can lock-on to the enemy, similar to Z-targeting in the Zelda franchise, which Japanese fans have reacted favorably to, according to Eiji Aonuma.

One important thing for developers was maintaining the Dynasty Warriors combat, while giving the moveset for each character a Zelda flavor. While the mechanics are very much embedded in the Dynasty Warriors series, they reference the Zelda franchise, striking a delicate balance quite successfully.

Blending two franchises is never an easy task, but between Miyamoto up-ending the tea table and Koei Tecmo’s dedication, they have hopefully come out with a wonderful title that appeals to fans of Zelda and Dynasty Warriors alike. The developers are Zelda fans, after all!